﻿NO. 7 SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I926 I4I 



times a land connection. But Dall and others have shown that we 

 have no sufiicient foundation for this assumption within the time that 

 the American man may have come over ; nor was such a connection 

 at all necessary. There may have been a land connection preceding, 

 and possibly even during some part of the glacial period, but those 

 times are so far away that they play no part in the peopling of America, 

 however large a role they may have had in the exchange of various 

 animals between the two continents. 



When one looks on the map of Alaska, it seems a relatively small 

 portion of the world and it would seem that the exploration of it for 

 traces of ancient man should be fairly simple. There are a few large 

 rivers ; almost no harbors ; there are in general only a few favorable 

 spots in Alaska where ancient man could have established himself, 

 and it would appear easy to reach these points, to survey them, and 

 to see what they promise or can give. As a matter of fact. Alaska 

 is as large as one-third of the United States ; the whole uf it has less 

 than two hundred miles of good roads ; and the interior — and by 

 interior is meant here anything away from the shores of the seas and 

 the banks of the rivers — is practically impassable except for short 

 stretches during the brief summer. In winter the country can be 

 traversed more easily with dog sleds, Init winter is not the season 

 for archeological work. And when the explorer comes to the rivers 

 or shores, he finds that transportation facilities by boat have, since 

 the gold rush is over, become very limited, suitable boats being hard 

 to obtain and very expensive. So that the student from the very start 

 is ])resented with seri(nis difficulties which at times seem almost 

 insurmountable. 



Under these conditions it was difficult to carry out systematic work 

 planned ahead from beginning to end ; but the writer soon learned 

 that Alaska in general is peopled today 1)y the most helpful, big- 

 hearted and generous men and women, and their help counted for 

 much. With this many of the difficulties were overcome until the 

 Bering Sea was reached, where by good fortune was found the 

 Revenue Cutter " Bear," which was ready to help. On it the writer 

 went to St. Lawrence and other important islands ; and with it he was 

 enabled to visit point after point of anthropological interest along the 

 Seward Peninsula, the Kotzebue Sound, and then through the Arctic 

 Sea right up to Barrow. The " Bear " could not give all the time 

 needed, but enough was given to make possible at least the most 

 essential observations on each spot and fair collections. 



The journey began, strictly speaking, at Vancouver, for at the 

 several stops of the boat between Vancouver and Juneau an opportu- 



